Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has revealed in an interview with Rio Ferdinand that the work he did during pre-season helped him to win both the golden boot and top assister in the Premier League this season.
The Egyptian was tied with Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min for the league’s top goalscorer with 23 goals and was flying solo on top of the assist charts with 13 assists, one ahead of his Liverpool teammate, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Salah became only the seventh player to achieve the feat with Harry Kane, Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry, Robin Van Persie, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbainl and Andy Cole preceding the winger in previous Premier League years.
Speaking with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League final clash with Real Madrid this weekend, Salah credited his pre-season for winning both awards.
The 29-year-old said: “I was so motivated, I was working crazy in the summer. I said ‘look, next season year I am going to win both things, the golden boot and assist’, I go for both from now and I was working crazy for both.”
This work was evident at the start of the season as the Liverpool forward started off in incredible form, which went a long way in helping him win the awards. The Egyptian’s season slowed down during the second half of the campaign and his analysis of how he achieved his goal could certainly be right.
Footage courtesy of BT Sport